The present invention relates to a bale handling implement, specifically such an implement that is attachable to a lifting vehicle to lift and manipulate hay bales.
Modern farming operations have increasingly turned to the use of large, round hay bales due to the efficiency associated with these units. Such hay bales are generally cylindrical in shape with a diameter and length approaching 5 feet and a weight of approximately 1,500 pounds. The size and weight of these hay bales prohibits their handling by manual manipulation and has dictated the need for machinery capable of lifting and moving such hay bales.
Such known apparatus for handling round hay bales typically include lifting forks, clamps or spindling devices all of which tend to be inefficient and/or expensive to fabricate and maintain. Several devices have been proposed which use lifting arms that are insertable along either side of a lower portion of the bale, which arms may be then pivoted into contact with the bale and lifted by attachment of the device to a tractor, front-end loader, or a similar vehicle. Such known lifting arm devices are operated by a complex and inherently unreliable mechanical linkage system, or by an actuating cylinder interposed between pivoting links to which the lifting arms are mounted. Although this latter mechanism has been simplified from the complex mechanical actuating linkage, the weight of the bales on the lifting arms imposes concentrated stress loads on the links and their pivoting attachment to the implement support. This inherently reduces the reliability of such a system.